Cyborg
These days, most individuals are augmented. Slang terms: Aug, Borg, Rivethead, really too many to count. However, it's important to note that the blanket term of 'cyborg' has become common parlance to refer to any augmented individual, and that augmentations come in many varieties. Aside from typical machine augmentation, there are also nanotechnological augmentations (from either nanomachinery or biologically engineered nanites), pharmacological augmentations (imprinting genetic changes onto an individual post-adolescence), engineered biological grafts, and other, more esoteric augmentations. Is that a problem for us? Augmented inmates, I mean. Not at all! Bear in mind the quality of the automata we have to defend personnel in the event of inmate hostility. There is virtually no reason for us to remove or alter most conventional individual augments, militarized posthumans aside. Even if an individual has augmented weaponry built into their person, typically the only action we need take is remove any and all ammunition cannisters for those weapons, such that they cannot be discharged. Generally-speaking, those we cannot disarm are no contest for our automata. Posthuman? What is that? A posthuman is an augmented individual whose body is 85% or more artificial, and has reached a point where further replacement of their original body is impossible. Every posthuman still retains their human brain, no matter the augmentations that ride it - if they did not, they would no longer be categorized as 'human' by ICC regulations and would be archived and decommissioned as any criminal synthetic person would. A distinction must be made between posthuman private individuals and militarized posthumans. Militarized posthumans are corporate soldiers who have been so heavily augmented by their corporation for the purpose of warfare as to distinguish them quite thoroughly from the typical augmented individual. Militarized posthumans are quite often no longer human in appearance. However, conveniently for us at CCS, their long military careers have an extensive effect upon their psyches - militarized posthumans are either the most or least compliant inmates we have, and tend to betray their tendency very quickly once within the facility. How do I categorize an inmate as an augmented individual? It's simple! You spend your character benefit points to augment an inmate. Each benefit spent on augmentation grants 3 points to spend either on increasing an inmate's raw characteristics or to spend on device powers. Additionally, each benefit spent on augmentation reduces an inmate's effective POW score by 2, though the inmate's maximum SAN is unchanged. Regardless of whether the aforementioned 3 points are spent on characteristics or device powers, an augmented individual's reduced POW score grants them 2 points that must be spent on device powers. ''An inmate who is augmented without any implanted miscellaneous devices is entirely unheard of. Such a creature would be akin to a dragon or unicorn in 6443. Once an inmate is sufficiently augmented they become considered 'full conversion' - this is when their POW would be reduced to 0 or less. The body can only handle so much surgery and implantation before needing to be entirely replaced. If you do not have the POW to reduce when you augment your character, you do not receive those points toward device powers (obviously). The maximum bonus to any characteristic that augmentations can provide is +5. This is a sum - note all points from all instances of augmentation and where they are spent. This bonus is above and beyond the maximum that genetic engineering can provide - both bonuses, if to the same characteristic, '''do stack'. This means that, yes, if a character is engineered to be strong, and then augmented to be strong, they are double stronger. They are all of the strong and can strength all of the things that can be strengthed. Bear in mind the benefits you are spending during character creation reflect the starting state of your inmate; if you spend all five on augmentation, you are opting to be a full-conversion posthuman. Whether your inmate is a private individual or a militarized posthuman is up to you, but the difference in a character's personality in either situation should be quite clear. What about acquiring augmentations during play? I hope you know a good surgeon. Acquiring augmentations after character creation is possible. ''The first thing an inmate needs to become augmented in the Yard is a good clinic, required for all forms of augmentation, regardless of the science producing them. For reasons that should be obvious, Doctor Post will not assist in this capacity. The inmate in question will need to make contact with and obtain a favor from another prisoner who happens to be a medical professional. Secondarily, an inmate needs a means of production. Conventional - that is, replacement-only - prostheses can be bought from The Warden's Commissary. There is literally nothing impressive or spectacular about these prostheses - in fact, they are simply replacements, not augmentations. However, there is nothing preventing an inmate with the knowledge and the tools from deconstructing prostheses and improving them or installing new technologies within them. More than anything else, an inmate needs to know the individuals assisting them in post-incarceration augmentation will not turn on them during operation or recovery. That would be quite awkward, wouldn't it? You mentioned that there are many kinds of augmentations. Does that matter? No, not really. Nanotechnological and mechanical augmentations tend to involve the same technologies, the difference is largely in the implementation within the individual and the adaptation of the man-machine interface. Similarly, biological augmentation is functionally identical to 'hard' technological augments. There is really no mechanical difference between these three - the difference in flavor, however, is entirely there. 'There is one type of augmentation that does matter''' in that it is distinct from and competitive with these above traditional forms of augmentation: necrotechnological augmentation, a rather recent, emerging product with a murky production history. Leaders in nanotech, biotech, and machining who have obtained examples of necrotech tend to have difficulty gleaning its function, due to the fundamental difference between their approach to implantation, and the approach necrotech has taken. Category:About Category:Mechanics Category:Homotype Category:Cybernetics